Heartbroken Victor Torp breaks silence over Coventry City's FA Cup hurt and Man Utd 'goal'

Victor Torp of Coventry City
Victor Torp of Coventry City scores a goal that is later ruled out by VAR during the Emirates FA Cup Semi Final match between Coventry City and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium on April 21, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images) -Credit:Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images


Victor Torp has admitted that he could not bare to watch back his disallowed goal the night of Coventry City's FA Cup defeat to Manchester United, and could only do so the next day.

Torp was mere millimetres away from becoming an FA Cup legend on Sunday when he netted in the last minute of extra-time against Manchester United. In fact, he believed he was right until the point that VAR's intervention crushed the Sky Blues' delight.

The Premier League club had built a commanding three-goal lead, with the goals scored by Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes. All roads were leading to an all-Manchester final within the regulation 90 minutes, but then Coventry blasted back out of nowhere. Ellis Simms, Callum O'Hare and Haji Wright on the scoresheet, half of Wembley booming, the other half stunned, and the tie was headed to an additional 30 minutes.

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That one moment right at the end of it will be etched into history books of Coventry City, but not even the man that played the pivotal role could fathom seeing replays knowing how it all ended.

Describing the heartbreak in full to Danish outlet Tipsbladet, the 24-year-old said: "It is a bit difficult to capture all the things that happened. When you have tried to watch the match again or the highlights, there are many things you have forgotten that happened because you forgot some of it in the heat of the match.

"In the evening I didn't see my goal because it was millimetres that decided that it was offside. I had to digest it before I could watch it, so I didn't watch it until the next day. I just had to get it out of my body."

"Haji is played down and gets a ball in. Purely instinctively, I put one foot on and steer it into the long corner. I have no idea in the situation that there could be offside," Torp added, before adamantly stating: "Because I wasn't offside - I came from behind.

"I go out to the corner flag, and all the emotions you had in that match, you just let go. I get to slip on my knees and lie on my back with my arms and legs to the side. My calf goes into spasm, and it was all the feelings you had in your body that gave way. The trembling and tension... Out of pure redemption, you just let go.

"Then it is only half a minute to a full minute after I find out that there may be offside. I can see that there are many United players around the referee and then I see on the screen that they are checking it. It wasn't fun walking around there.

"It was a bit surreal that you went from being all the way up there to feeling like it was taken away from me. You can't feel that when they have assessed that it is offside. So that's how it is. But right at that moment I felt that it was taken away from me."

He was offered a shot at redemption in the shoot-out, and put away his effort with aplomb. It was only afterwards that O'Hare and Ben Sheaf spurned their chances, and Coventry went crashing out of the cup.

"I knew well that I had to kick if we got into a penalty shootout," said the No.29. "The day before, I had asked myself to kick if it came to that, and I was on the field.

"I knew where I wanted to kick, and we had trained it the day before. I had a chat with the goalkeeper coach about what Onana typically does and which side he jumps to more.

"I don't think it has dawned on me how close we were to making something huge," Torp concluded. "Although I feel we did something that was huge, the story just lacked the happy ending, which unfortunately did not come."

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